


Faceless

by MrsLuigiVargas



Series: PMTOK In-Betweens [2]
Category: Mario Story | Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Super Mario & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, Yellow Streamer Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:07:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25787827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsLuigiVargas/pseuds/MrsLuigiVargas
Summary: "What's it like having your face removed, Mario?"(Spoilers for Chapter 3/Yellow streamer)
Series: PMTOK In-Betweens [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1870738
Comments: 8
Kudos: 51





	1. Removal

The white-hot flash of pain fades to a piercing dull grey, and with it comes a permeating sense of  _ wrongness _ .

You claw your way back into awareness against rising tides of sudden overwhelming exhaustion and unbearable weariness. You barely register Olivia’s panicked shouts over the roar of agony from your opponent’s latest strike. It blends with the shouts of encouragement behind you and the shouts of distress next to you to scrape against your splitting headache.

In fact, your entire head feels like it was crushed under a jackhammer. Yet despite that, your face is curiously numb. Probably because it isn't there anymore.

(You barely restrain an impulse to stick your hand through where it’s supposed to be.)

But you know there’s a battle to be fought, and you are wasting seconds that you can't afford to lose. You take a deep, shaky breath. 

You open your eyes. You see darkness, all-encompassing and suffocating. You see Hole Punch, twirling and grooving under blinding disco lights. You see Olivia, her worried face blurring by your side. 

“Are you going to be okay, Mario?” she asks you, glancing uneasily at where your eyes used to be.

You look to the swimming blobs of green and brown littering the arena. You look back to Olivia. You nod, in false-but-necessary confidence, and begin arranging your path to the center.


	2. Whole

A few turns later, something shifts. The dark veil masking the dance floor-turned-arena abruptly lightens to a bright ceiling. The extra Toad screams rattling around your skull suddenly cease. You're in the middle of reorienting yourself to the change when Olivia cries out.

“What is that? Is that...a face?!”

You’re frantically arranging the arena even as she finishes speaking. Mindful of your audience, you do your best not to sprint to where you know your face lies. _Finally_ , you reach it, and it slots into place almost as soon as you reach for it.

You almost lose yourself in the overwhelming relief. You almost collapse from the sudden burst of energy. A smirk, unbidden, creeps onto your face. You raise your hammer. Now you’re back in business.


	3. Hole

You run up to Hole Punch, knocking more cut-outs out of his underside in an attempt to make the dance floor more navigable. You crouch in front of your opponent, ready to block whatever he throws at you.

Wordlessly, Hole Punch spins and reaches out towards you with his freakish body.

You freeze, before tamping down your rising panic and bracing yourself for another round of misery.

It wouldn't do to worry Olivia too much, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve never written in this style before, so this was a fun little experiment! I love the paper-themed body horror in this game, and the question about what having a face punched out felt like recently began haunting me, so here we are~! Hope you enjoyed!


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